Volume 3, Issue 3 – October 2007

Posted on 10/22/2007 at 12:42:01 PM

Contents

The Doctrine of Exaltation

The Secret & The Scriptures

The Book of Mormon & The Law of Moses

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The Book of Mormon & The Law of Moses

Posted on 10/7/2007 at 12:32:55 PM

Some see the law of Moses as entirely irrelevant in our era. Some believe it to be an ancient and mystic set of rites, understood only by aged Rabbis. Others are convinced it is as relevant today in our every day life as it was in ancient Israel.

Most of the world finds its information on Mosaic law solely from the Old Testament, but we Latter-day Saints have another source of God’s dealings with his people before Christ. Unlike the Bible which is only being acceptable only “as far as it is translated correctly”¹ with “many plain and precious things”² missing, the Book of Mormon is a volume of scripture translated into our language “by the gift and power of God.”³

According to President John Taylor, in his book Mediation and Atonement: “it appears indubitable from the two records, that Bible and the Book of Mormon, that the intent and true meaning of the law of Moses, of its sacrifices, etc., were far better understood and comprehended by the Nephites than by the Jews.”⁴

This means we should expect to find more insights in the Book of Mormon on the origins, purpose, and extent of the law of Moses in that divine record than from any Jewish experts or Rabbinical commentaries, and that its word should carry the greatest authority.

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The Secret & The Scriptures

Posted on 10/7/2007 at 12:09:47 PM

“A recent study proved if you watch the movie just seven times … your brain would be transformed. Just seven times and The Secret is part of your life forever.” (Rhonda Byrne)¹

The Secret is a phenomenon. It is a video, a book, and a movement. In it’s DVD and hardback forms it has sold millions. It has been promoted on television by Oprah Winfrey and Larry King, and has made its way into business meetings, church services, support groups, and homes belonging to every ethnic, social and religious group.

It’s author calls it the “most powerful law in the universe,”² and claims that it was hidden for 3,500 years by leaders who wanted “to keep the power” to themselves.³ It promises to “give you anything you want: happiness, health, and wealth.”⁴

It claims to accomplish this through a formula of “ask, believe, and receive”⁵ that by “deciding what you want to be, do, and have,” and that by “thinking the thoughts of it,” and “emitting the frequency, … your vision will become your life.”⁶ Simply put, the universe is at your beck and call and is only awaiting its orders to furnish you with whatever you want.

The author, Rhonda Byrne, an Australian television producer⁷, was introduced to the Secret herself through a book her daughter gave her during a troubled time in her life. That book was “The Science of Getting Rich” written in 1910⁸, and influenced by the beliefs of Phineas Quimby, whose “New Thought” philosophy formed the basis of the Christian Science and Unity churches, with their hundreds of thousands of members.

Although the video and book tend not to speak about God directly, many Christians have embraced its teachings in the belief that they are just an embodiment of the principles of faith and prayer. But God tells us that whatever we see, hear, or learn we should compare it to His words, and test its truthfulness, and hold fast to what we find to be true. So, with that in mind, let us look at the Secret in greater depth and see how it stands up to the scriptures.

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The Doctrine of Exaltation

Posted on 10/7/2007 at 11:33:54 AM

When, in 1843, Joseph Smith received the revelation on Celestial Marriage we now call section 132, it not only introduced the controversial principle of plural marriage, but for the first time clearly revealed the concept of exaltation:¹

“Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.”²

That revelation, however, was only known to a few at the time, and was not made public until 1852. However, the idea that our God was but one of many had already been hinted at four years earlier in the Prophet’s epistle from Liberty Jail in which he spoke of “a time to come in the which nothing shall be withheld, whether there be one God or many gods, they shall be manifest.”³ In saying this he was perhaps paraphrasing the Apostle Paul who said in his first Corinthian epistle that “there be gods many, and lords many”⁴ He also hinted that there was more to the subject that was yet to be revealed. Yet It was not until April 1844, in the now famous King Follet sermon that Joseph publicly explained this doctrine to the Saints. Said he:

“God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible, – I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form – like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another. …

Here, then, is eternal life – to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.”⁵

The Prophet Joseph also later revealed why God chose us to have this privilege:

“God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. … [Therefore] he [used his] power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits.”⁶

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